One in five Canadians look to home equity for retirement funding

Financial planners will tell you that when you are planning for retirement you should not include home equity as a potential source of income. That’s because you have to live somewhere, and increasing numbers of older, healthy Canadians hope to “age in place,” at least initially.

However, for many Canadians the equity in their home is their greatest asset. So the findings of a new HSBC study that 20% of pre-retirees believe that income from downsizing or selling a property is likely to help them pay for life after work are not surprising. But income from downsizing or selling property is currently helping only 5% of retirees to fund their retirement.

Among pre-retirees who have started saving, people that have either stopped and/or faced difficulty (29%) are most likely to consider using property downsizing or sale income than those who did not face difficulty.

Those closer to retirement are more likely to think that income from downsizing or selling property will help them fund their retirement. Pre-retirees who are committed savers (26%), are the most likely to think that income from downsizing or selling a primary or secondary property will help them to fund their retirement. Those who are comfortably affluent (13%) are the least likely.

Looking forward, working age people and retirees of all ages have plans to change their living arrangements in the future. These include moving to:

A smaller home:

59%

A retirement home:

59%

A care home:

49%

Another city/ town in the same country:

33%

Live closer to family members/children:

27%

A bigger home:

26%

Another country:

15%

Live with my children:

13%

Sixty-two percent of people in their 50s plan to move to a smaller home in the future compared to 59% of people in their 40s and 49% of people 70 or over. Sixty-three percent of people aged 60 or over plan to move to a retirement home at some stage, compared to 55% of people in their 40s. Those who have received some sort of retirement advice are also more likely to think they will move to a smaller home (65%) than those who have received none (41%).

I must confess we buy lottery tickets every week (aka a tax on the statistically- challenged) in the vain hope that if we win “the big one” we’ll be able to renovate a large bungalow in a central part of Toronto and rent or buy a pied-à-terre in Ottawa where our daughter’s family lives.

However, in the meantime, as long as my husband and I are in good health, we are planning to stay in our three-story North York home. Currently Joel is using the basement apartment as a work room where he makes beautiful cutting boards, bowls and other decorative items. But when the time comes that we need help to remain in our home, the apartment can be used by a live-in caregiver.

At least that’s the plan for now! No doubt as the years go by and we move through the “go-go, go-slow and no-go” stages of retirement, our plans may change. And it is comforting to know that if we do live into our 90s, that the equity in our home is available to help finance a variety of options later in life.